Protesting information: Picket sign o' the times

EDITORIAL

Last Thursday, the AFL-CIO organized a protest at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester. The club was not in the midst of a labor dispute. It was merely the venue for a presentation of an economic study on the effects of right-to-work laws. Yes, the AFL-CIO was protesting information.

The New Hampshire chapter of Americans for Prosperity presented a study showing that the economy tends to grow faster and create more wealth and more jobs in right-to-work states. Had New Hampshire enacted a right-to-work law in 1977, according to the study, per capita income would be $3,000 higher today. Furthermore, were we to enact a right-to-work law now, the unemployment rate would fall to near 4 percent and the state would add 4,000-6,000 additional jobs.

The AFP study does not say this is guaranteed. In fact, it is full of caveats, such as “there is no concrete way to isolate the effects of right to work legislation on an economy.” The point is to use the best data available to try to help inform the debate.

But the AFL-CIO does not want to have the debate. It is so afraid of the discussion that it actually picketed an economic study.

The union ought to know by now, as should New Hampshire, that the laws of economics cannot be stopped by a sign tacked to a stick.